Railway.



No. 689,749.. Patented Dec..2'4, 1901."

` M. REEDY.

RAILWAY.

(Appnmion am .rm s1, 1901..)

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UNITED STATES MiCI-IAEL REEDY, oEoMAHA, NEBRASKA.

PATENT OFFICE.

RAILWAY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N0. 689,749, dated December 24, 1901.

Application filed January 31,1901.. Serial. No. 45,493. (No model.)

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, MICHAEL REEDY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Omaha, in the county of Douglas and State of Ne- 5 braska, have invented new and useful lmprovements in Railways, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in railways, and has for oneof its objects thel provision of a construction in which the rails are mounted on and supported by longitudinally-disposed metallic bearings with their meeting ends at points intermediate of the ends of the bearings, whereby their joints are curely held against spreading and also against' casual inward movement.

Other advantageous features of the invention will be fully understood from the followjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a transverse section of a railway constructed in accordance with my invention, said section being taken in the plane of the broken line l l of Fig. 2, Fig. 2 is a top plan view of a part of the railway with a portion of one of the rails in section; and Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional perspective view illustrating one of the longitudinal rail-bearings, the meeting ends of two rails thereon, and a portion of one of the transverse connections between the bearings.

In the said drawings similar letters of reference designate corresponding parts in all of the several views, referring to which-- A A are the parallel rail-bearings of my improved railway, which may be of iron, steel, or other suitable material. These bearings are preferably of a length corresponding to that of the rails and in the preferred embodiment of the invention respectively comprise supported and strengthened and smooth un-V ing description and claims when taken in cona horizontal body d, longitudinal anges l), depending from the edges of the body and adapted to sink into the road-bed, so as to `hold the bearing against casual lateral movement or displacement, flanges c, which ex- `is connected to its parallel fellow through the medium of six (more or less) transverse connections B, arranged at intervals of their length. These transverse connections B preferablycomprise clamp-sections e,which straddle the inner lower flanges b of the bearings and have upwardly-extending portions e,pro A vided with transverse apertures, clamp-sections f, which straddle the upperinner anges c and are connected to the sections e by bolts g, and threaded rods h, which are interposed between and extend through the transverse apertures of the Clamp-sections e and are provided at opposite sides of thesame with nuts t'. By virtue of the interposition of the transverse connections described between the bearings A it will be seen that the gage of the track may be readily regulated, also that spreading and casual inward movement of the bearings and the rails thereon are eectually prevented, which contributes materially to the safety of my improvements.

C C are rails which may be and preferably are of the ordinary construction. are arranged on the bearings A between the ribs d thereof and are so disposed that their meeting ends are located at points intermediate of the ends of the bearings,as best shown in Figs. 2 and 3, whereby their joints are strengthened and supported and smooth unbroken rail-treads are afforded, with the result that shock andjar incident to the passage of a car-wheel from one rail to another are obviated.

The rails C are arranged, as stated,between the ribs cl of the bearings and are secured in the channel formed by said ribs and the bodies a of the bearings by longitudinal metallic bars j, which bear upon the bases of the rails at the inner sides of the ribs d and These rails are connected to said ribs by bolts 7o. This mode of securing the rails in the bearings is materially advantageous, since in the event of a rail being broken the bars j will serve to hold the parts in their proper relative positions and will consequently prevent accidents, which is obviously an important desideratum. The meeting ends of the rails are preferably connected by ordinary tish-plates Zand bolts m, as shown in Fig. 3, and the rails are held against creeping or casual end- Wise movement through the medium of anticreeping-straps D, which are connected to the rails by bolts m and tothe ribs (l by bolts 7c, as shown.

It will be appreciated from the foregoing that my improvements constitute a solid,safe, and durable railway and one which is adapted to be expeditiously built and which affords smooth surfaces for the travel of carwheels and effectually prevents the shock and jar so often experienced incident to the passage of car-wheels from one rail to another. It will also be noticed that notwithstanding its practical advantages as pointed out in the foregoing myimproved railwayis in general as economical as those extant.

Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s

l. In a railway, the combination of metallic bearings disposed longitudinally and end to end and having'ribs on their upper sides, rails arranged end to end on the bearings and between the ribs thereof, suitable connections between the meeting ends of the rails, and bars arranged at the inner sides of the ribs of the bearings and above the bases of the rails and connected to said ribs of the bearings.

2. In a railway, the combination of metallic bearings disposed longitudinally and end their upper sides for the reception of rails and also having depending anges adapted to be sunk into the road-bed, and upwardlyextending anges, rails arranged and secured in said channels of the bearings, and transverse adjustable connections interposed between the bearings at intervals in the length thereof and having devices at their ends engaging the depending and upwardlyextending flanges of said bearings.

4. In a railway, the combination of parallel,longitudinally-disposed metallic bearings, having the depending and the upwardly-extending ilanges at their edges, rails arranged and secured on the bearings, and transverse connections interposed between the bearings at intervals` in the length thereof; the said connections respectively comprising clamps engaging the inner ilanges of the bearings, and having transverse apertures, a threaded bolt extending through the apertures of the clamps, and nuts on said bolt.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

MICHAEL REEDY. Witnesses:

H. H. HATCHER, CHAs. GOERTLER. 

